The Outside

"Well, I'm here," Ventus says with a sigh, driving up to the coordinates he marked out on his map. Located aproaximately 3-4 miles under the island, he was in the dense forest that was directly below the island. He pulled to a stop just below the hill he labeled, and gets out of his truck. "Hope the bloody well works, or I have to find a witch to teleport me up there. That, or I die", he mumbles to himself, as he walked around to the back of his truck to check on his things. Opon inspection he finds that nothing is missing or damage, a greatful blessing considering the trip he's had to just get this far. He says, while checking  the gear," Thank my luck that nothing went wrong here. Those Fracking bears around he made it a {verbally-abusive term} to get this far. Not to mention almost being robbed by the locals when I was just trying to get a fracking vehicle!"

'I was ripped off on that too!', he though, fuming at the usual parade of disaters that seemed to plague him whenever he goes out traveling. Realizing that his anger was getting him anywhere, he start to reign in his temper. 'Getting angry now solves nothing, and if I don't start concentrating on the task ahead, getting some mystical bling will be the least of my worries...' ,he thought. Satisfied that everything was in order, he went to the front on the truck and got of his backpack out, then proceeded to pack all his supplies that he needed for the trip. He stocked up quite a lot, since he didn't know how long he would be gone( or even how long the trip to get here would be), and he didn't want to pay the exorbate prices for getting food and other things.

He packed about a week's worth of food, along with his standerd array of equipment, and secured the rest back into place. While finishing up, he began thinking. 'Well, let's review the mission paramenters I set out. One: Get to where the island is located. Check," he though, glance up at the island in the distant sky.' Two; Survived the trip more or less intact, with all I need, and secured all that I don't. Cheeeck," finishing up with rigging up the defensive parameter." Just TRY to get my goodies, you blighten beasts!" Laughing( And unaware that he was tempting Murphy's law with his comments), he continued to go over mental to-do list. 'Three: Get to the location and start setting up for the flight up there. In progress' he thinks, finally beginning his hike up to the spot. After the hours getting here, he's glad that he can finally get the chance to limber up, and stretch his legs a bit.

About 15 minutes later he reaches the spot and begin preparing. The location is the crest of the highest hill in the surrounding forest, with a direct line of sight to the island, which was perfect for his needs. He sat down near the edge, and began to concentrate, drawing the air around him. Taking a deep breath, he begin to draw on his energy, pressing and compressing the air surrounding him. After 30 minutes of intensive effort, he get a 'bubble' of air around him. Relaxing a bit, he began to reinforce the bubble with more of his magic. 'Check' he thought, finishing up with that. Now the hard part. Just before he got start, he made sure his bubble was up to snuff. If he even made the slightest mistake, the chances for him having a fatal faceplant with the ground goes up exponentially. Chuclking, he derisively thought, " Well, what has to be the biggest risk of all my life stopping me from chasing down some magical knowledge, common sense be darned that its a longshot a best.' "Well, if thing don't go as planned, guess I won't have much time to think about how things went FUBAR!", he shouted, laughing. Once he got that out of his system, he began clearing his mind, and focused on the though of fly. He should be able to fly. He would be able to fly. He will fly. Repeating this mantra in his head, he began pumping more energy into his spell, a began to slowing rise from the grow. Bit by bit, he got higher, and began to accend. With one last though, 'Here goes! Up, Up, and AWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAY!', he shot up into the air.

                              He got faster and faster he got, until his speed leveled out, as he begun to ration his strength. He maintained the course he was on, spooking the birds as he got higher up. Hours pasts, as he slowly approach the island. It was getting bigger, and bigger as he drew closer to it. Closer to his dreams. When he reached the cloud layer, he was beginning to pant, tired from using his magic this long and from the thin air up here. He was half-way up when he spied some things that seemed to, to his sight, flying around the island. He couldn't see them well from the distance he was at, but they seemed to be... green? 'No!', he thought, panicking when he felt the magic around him waver. 'FOCUS. Worry about the beasties later when you have some solid ground on your feet!', he berated his curiousity. Sulking, it went and hid in the corner of his brain, while he re-doubled his effort on his spell and refocused his mind. The magic stabilized, and he let of a sigh of relief. Shutting out all other thoughts but getting safely to the island, he continued his journey. He began to sweat, and his body was shaking form the effort he was putting on it. He ignored this, an kept on pushing on.

      'Just...keep...going...Almost...there...', his thoughts growing hazy. Fortunately, his journey was near its end. After hours of grueling effort and dedication, he acceded above the island. He began searching for a place to safely ,and found one that seemed a (relatively) short distance away. He steered his flight path that way, and began to float towards there. During his decent he again spot those weird flying creates that were flying around the island, only he could see them much better. They seemed to medium to large sized winged-lizards, with the biggest ones have a oddly crested head. 'Are these the dragons I have heard about? They seem... cuter than I imagined', he pondered, as descend closer and closer to island proper. 'Well, as long as they don't bother me, they can putter around however much they like. And if they do... heh, I have always wondered how strong a dragon-skinned coat would be... ' With that thought, and a smirk on his face, he, after a long, tedious, and tiring journey, he touched down on the ground.



        He immediantly slumped over, gasping as he let go of the spell he was holding. The air around him slowly decompressed, as to prevent his body from exploding from from the light air pressure at the elevation he was at. Once that it was done, the air began to flow away, as it was before it was called to the task. Wheezing, he unstrapped the back from his shoulders, and got out his jug of magically-infused water and a protein bar. He began guzzling the water down, interspersing  gulps of water with bits of food. Once he had his fill of water, he set it down, with the jug being noticeably lighter, and fetched another bar from his pack. Strength and fortitude replenished, he strapped his backpack on again, munching on his bar. "I'm here! Finally, I though I was going to plummet back their!" he shout, his voice carring far and wide. With a wild grin on his face, he set out, taking in the site around him. "This will be my first step to greatness! I WILL have what I came here for! And with it, I shall take charge of people here, and lead them into greatness!!!" he roared, as he went his way into the wild frontier.

"Well, so far, I see nothing but grass, some bushes, and some big, big rocks," Ventus said, scoping out the territory around him. Tall grass, at least 7ft high, was the main feature on this part of the surface of the island. Strew about in this jungle of overgrown weeds were a few boulder, some of them big enough to require detouring around. If anyone was watching him, they would see apparent boredom on his face, as well as the foul attitude surrounding him. "Damn it, nothing interesting to see! I came up here to find treasure and hidden knowledge, not bushlands! There's not even any animals around here! Well, except those dragons, and I honestly want to keep contact with them to a minimum", he muttered, quite frustrated. With a huff, he stop and hacked a clearing for him to rest up a bit

      It took him half a day to reach the large grasslands, and during that time he spotted more of those strange dragons flying around. From what he could tell they stayed up in the sky almost constantly, only landing when it turn night out. He discover the latter by nearly being caught of guard by a pair flying down towards him. He beated a hasty retreat, not wanting to study the local wildlife just yet. Not that he couldn't take them down, he just didn't want to get into any scraps this far up. If he was seriously harmed, he was on his own to treat whatever affliction he would have. Say what you will about his boldness, but he has not survived this long without learning a thing or two.

             Suddenly, his stomach started growling. Reaching into his pack, he fished out a wrapped up nutrient bar, and untangled it from its confines. Breaking off a chunk, he wrapped the rest up and put it away for later. Taking a bit, he started thinking about his plan of his. 'So, I've been hiking through he for a few days now, and I haven't found anything the least bit interesting. Not seen any animals either, besides those dragons, so the hunting option is out of luck. This means I'll have to ration my food a bit more than I planned if I don't want to resort to eating my boots. All there is around here grass, grass, more grass, and the occasional bush or rock strewn around. You know, to add some variety.'

Grubbling, he finished up his snack and started out again, still thinking. 'Just my luck, not finding ANYTHING useful. Eh, what's new. I've had worse starts to expeditions than this. Like that time in Asia with those tigers. Those beasts ate my guide! I couldn't even kill the fluffy basterds before they ran. Well, anyway, at least nothing hasn't tried to kill me, or similarly ruin my day, so that's a plus. Not running low on water around here, surprisingly, due to all the magic in the air that I can use to make more, so no dehydration risk. Can't get lost either, since I have no set distenation. I really don't have anything to worry about besides dying of boredom, or running out of food'

       Now, that could be a problem. Like he thought earlier, he hasn't seen any animals he could hunt to replenish his reserves with. Not good. Worst comes to worst, he has to start hunting dragons, and he doesn't even know if their edible or not. It would be so typical of him to be poisoned by eating some dragon jerky. That's disregarding whether he would survive a battle with a beast like that. If this continues, he has a real risk of starvation. What an ignoble end that would be.

       Shaking his to dispel the cloud of gloom that acumulted around him( Why does his magic act up when he gets contemplative?), he continues carving a path through the folage, on the look out for anything. He brainstormed a bit while doing so, trying to find some solution to his set of problems. Well, for starters, he could try flying up a bit to get the layout of the general area around him. Problem of that is that he's still recovering from his last flight, and doesn't want to strain himself too much. That, and running into dragons would increase if he was flying around. 'No, better think of something else,' he thought, jumping over a small rock that would have tripped him.

Well, how about extending his senses? Using his magic, he could project his sight and hearing into the wind around him, and use it to scout out farther ahead of him. He would need to draw a magic circle around him and do a quick chant to cast it. He would be stuck in the circle while looking around, leaving him helpless to attack, but he didn't see this as a problem this time, what with the lack of any animals or ner do wells. "Yeah, that would work," he said, voicing his own thoughts, as he stopped and cleared and area for his circle

      Why a circle? Well you see, there's normally a little magic in the air. This is (generally) not a problem with some spell, like basic evocations, some of his heavy duty wind crafting, or some of his area affecting spells. With some of his more elaborate or detailed spells, though, the magic in the air would interfere with his efforts, which would result in requiring more concentration and effort on his part to get it to work. A circle blocks out ambient magic in the area, which result in a magic free area where a caster can work his own magic without it(ambient magic) messing up his work. Rituals or some of his REAL heavy duty magic strait up demand a circle in order to get any sort of result without getting himself exhausted or kill by his efforts. Plus, these types of spellcraft just work better with a circle. And that's with regular amounts of magic saturation in the air. Here on the island? He's floating in the gill with all the magic surrounding him, which, while it makes it easier on him to preform and recover magic, makes it near impossible to do these types of spells in. So, circle or no go.

    When he was done, he channeled a bit of his magic into his circle, and with a slight pop, all the magic was dispel from the space he was in. Sitting down, he crossed his legs and muttered, "Air, be my seer, be my guide. Lend me your winds to seek what may lie beyond my eyes. Give me your currents to be my ears, to listen to what I might hear. Do as I command, do what I desire, do my will!
Aerosa Sensora!"

     His head slumped down as he finished, with the wind picking up around him as well. The mini-cyclone dissipated, with the wind gusting out of the circle, and out to the surrounding area. It flowed through the grass, letting him see it and beyond . There was no sound on the ground level, and as the winds blew through, all he could 'see' with it was same old, same old. It was about a few miles out when suddenly, his air stream came into a clearing. Extending his wind out, he saw something that resemble ruins of some sort. 'Yes, finally! Something to explored a bit!' he thought, excited. Interest piped, he used his wind to explore the outside of them to find out as much as he could.

It seem they were covered in pictogliphs, some of depicting great beasts or mighty magicians. Others told a history of a kingdom that by the looks of it seem to be fairly well off, besides the occasional demon or magical beast that plagued them. It kept the kingdom from getting to complacent, or bored. The ruins were big too; judging what he saw, they extended quite the ways out, and took most of the gigantic clearing. He'd tried to get his wind to see what's inside, but was repelled by what seems to be a magic force field. 'This deserve further investigation,' he pondered, and he went about examining and testing the field.
      Despite his expectations, his spell casting did not go unnoticed. The burst of magic attracted the attention of one dragon, who came to investigate what was happening. The dragon was, unlike its bigger relatives, smaller and more lithe, being an estimated 4 feet tall and 3 feet wide. It had a light orange coloration, and greenish wing membranes. The head was rounded, and had two small pointy horns on it. Its eyes where deep blue, and slited, like a cat, and where partially closed. All in all it looked cute, which goes against expectations

     As it flew down and did a sweep of the area, it saw a creature in a small clearing. Swooping down, it landed inside to get a closer look at, to it, strange being. It didn't look like anything creature it has seen before. It was too big to be a critter, not big enough to be those annoying ghost catties, and it didn't have wings like a beatle or dragon. It look squat and bulky, with thin and ganky limbs. It was white, like those ghost catties, but had flashy stuff on it that sparkled in the light. It couldn't see its eyes but.. oh! Its fur, its fur! On top of its head was bright orange fur, like its scales! "Kyuuu!", it went, happy and excited with its discovery.

    You think Ventus would notice the small racket it was making, but his attention was whole devoted to the magical force field, with him beign quite enamored with it. You'd think that with all his training he would be able to easily pick up on the noise so close to him, but it goes to show how absorbed gets when working.

     Curious and peppy, it hopped closer to him. It sniff at his head, and noticed it smell clean and fresh, and not dirty like all the other animals it hunted. Strange, but not unpleasant. It wondered what it would taste like, but decided not to try to get a taste. It wasn't hungry, and the creature was too mysterious and funny looking to eat anyway. That, and it was having fun, too!

     Upon closer study, the strange animal seem to be sleeping. Its head was hanging down, and its body was curled up in on itself. Was it sleeping? It bumped its head against the creature's back, trying to rouse it, and see what it does. Might make it angry for waking it up in the middle of its nap, but it wanted to play around a bit! When it didn't respond, it start to nudge it into action. It wanted to see what it would do! "Kyuuu!", it cried, trying to snap Ventus out of his trance.

        Luckily for it (and Ventus, if it decided to be more ruff with its administrations), he began to awaken from his trance, stretching its arms out. This actions surprised the dragon, causing it to take to the air in an gust. Hovering just above, it waited to see what the creature would do.
              'Strange, by my analysis, the force field is designed to ward off magical interference and erosion, but not to keep people-or things-out. I can't break through the field where I am, and I can't see inside the ruins, so all that's left is to explore it myself, personally,' he though, summarizing and compiling all the information he had gleaned from its investigation. Noting the direction the ruins were at, he released his spell. His physical awareness was back in a instant, with his mind and sense coming closely behind. Stretching his arms to get out the stiffness, he felt a gust of wind near by. 'Hrrmm? Must of put a little more magic in releasing my spell. Better be careful 'bout that next time, seeing as I don't want to break my mind's connection to my body. It was a bloody hassle, trying to repair THAT kind of damage the first time that happened,' he thought, as he stood up and broke the circle and willed it open. Magic came in to fill in the vacuum, and he suddenly oriented himself toward the direction the ruins were at. 'Hehe, mighty cleaver of me to weave a tracking spell into this, even though its a lot more work for me. Better to know where your heading and where your body is a at, then it its to not, thought. If its worth doing, its worth doing it well, '
Adjusting his gear and backpack, and scraping the dirt off his pants, he set out on a march to where the ruins were at.
     The dragon saw the creature stand and move around the thingies attached to it, then turned and started to hike away. It got out a flat, shiny thing, and started to chop away at the grass ahead of it. It didn't know that the creature could do that with the shiny flat stick! As the creature moved away, the dragon decided to follow it from behind, and see what else it might do. It had plenty to eat before, and even if it gets hungry, it has the creature's scent, so it can track it down if it has to. After, its not often it finds some creature this strange and intriguing! Silently, It went happily after Ventus.

Ventus reached the ruins some time later, after hacking through a few miles of grass and few rest stops. He was not all to happy with the pace he was at, but if he didn't take care in finding the ruins, he might get horribly lost. Again. He could of just flown their, sure, and saved himself some time and tedium, but he was still feeling the strain of his first flight even after all this time on this magic hotspot of an island. Seeing as he did not want to accidentally burn himself out, or attract the attention of those flying dragons, he decided on the slower more magically efficient option.

This did not mean he did not like cutting through that blasted weed field anymore than he liked it since he got here. After seeing nothing but grass and rock since he got there, he was both eager and excited to finally has a change of scenery for once on this bloody.

When he reached the ruins, he found himself in a wide open field. The grass here wasn't neck achingly high, and to his surprise there was a pool of water a little way from the ruins. "Isn't this a place a sight for sore eyes after all the monotony I experience since I got here! Now that I'm here, what's the course of action am I going to take? I could either rest up a bit and call it a night, or I can conitunue my investigation of the ruin and start exploring it a bit. Decision, decision."

      As he spoke, he studied the ruined here with interest. Sure, he 'seen' it before when he was scoping out the place, but magic can sometime leave some thing less than desirable. For one, the ruins were not as big as he first made them out to be, with main building being the size of about the size of two medium size house merged together, side by side. For he knew, the house could be bigger on the inside than the outside, or have basement levels. Ancient magical ruin have a tendency to surprise those that explore them, after all. He also didn't see all of the finer details that only his eye could pick out now he was here, which include smaller or more worn details of the murals he once observed.

        That was all he got from his second examination of the place, which bothered him. Normally, he used his wind magic to get a rough layout of a place by using the airstream in their to map out the walls or see how big it was. IF he took the extra time, he could even get some fairly clear sights from the place. These ruins where different, with that anti-magic field keeping him from working his spell on the place to get the scuttlebutt on it. From his inquires, the field was quite old, with it being sustained for who know how long. From what he can tell right now, it drew it power from the natural magic that was on the island, using it to substain and even repair itself as time went by.

       'This spellwork is frankly amazing. The level of detail and preparation to make such a field must of been enormous, and the magical muscle to make this must be equally so. I wouldn't be surprised if a some ancient witch constructed this whole thing, with what I'm seeing,' he thought.

      If that was true, who knew what he was getting into? He'd seen and been in a few place that had some serious witchcraft. Those place were choack full of magical traps, deadly beasts, mundane-if-not-equally-dangerous traps, and many more. Bloody God forbid that this place had magic constructs guarding it! Those things are more lethal than anthrax if they are properly motivated enough to go after you!

       And so help him if there was an actual Witch living there. The ruin and the surround place seem uninhabited, but he learned long ago that apprerances all always deceiving. The thankfully few Witches he meet were in his journey throughout the lands had varying dispositions, raging from kindly and caring to absolute bananas on ice cream insane. The one thing they all had in common though was that they were incredibly powerful. Fearsome in battle, he'd seen them do things that casually defied the laws of nature, magic, and even physics!

He should know, since he fought one before.

Once was plenty. He still has nightmares about those horrible things that the Witch summoned. Things which defiled everything sacred and profane in the world. To this day, he still didn't know how he manage to kill the monster, but what he did know was that he wasn't eager to fight another.

Not anytime soon.

However, he would be blighted if he were going to pass this place up on the off chance that a angry Witch might still be inhabiting! The witches he knew kept their lairs in tip-top shape, and this place, even with the field doing its level best to beat back time, looked debilitated and abandoned. He also would of sensed one if it were around, but then again it could be hiding inside the anti-magic field.

Or worse, sealed inside. Wouldn't it be like him to unleash some horrible being on the island, and himself! "Well, the only way to find out is to tear down the field, and have a look-see inside. Doesn't make me feel any safer, but its the only way with out trying to demolish the place to see what's inside and use my magic in their. Of course, tearing the place down might kill anything lurking in their, but it could equally just Urine it off and set it on me. Yeah, I'll just take the field down," he spoke, mulling over the possibilities, before deciding on this course of action.

On his decision on whether he would rest or not, he decided to explore the ruin first, then settle down for the day. Once the ruins been checked out for any possible goodies and danger, he would be able to relax for a bit.

       Ventus approached the structure until he was face to face with the doors. They were made of stone, perhaps marble, and were big. Fishing into his trenchcoat, he got piece of chalk out and some makers. He hunched down, and began making his counter spell.

      As mentioned before, for heavy duty spells or ones that require a bit more finesse and delicacy, a magic circle was require. What wasn't mentioned was that some spells or rituals require more preparation as a result of their complexity of finickeyness.In many case, such spells often had elaborate steps to them, ranging from blood sacrifice to mundane regents, and precise and specific inscriptions if you wanted any degree of success beside failure and blowing yourself up(Or worse). 

     In this case, he was inscribing runes on the inside and outside the circle, with the one on the outside for safety, protections, and redirections of energies, and the ones inside for control and stability. It took him a half and hour to complete it, with most of the time coming from making and correcting his runecraft on the circle. With a huff, he went into the circle and closed it, feeling the magic around him wink out. He gathered up his magic, and began feeding it into the circle.

    Once that was start, he saw the barrier surround the place. It was colored red-violent( to him-remember, magic is a bit unpredictable), and it surround the building on all sides. There was very little airspace between the field and the ruins proper, which meant that he was going to have a harder time breaking this sucker down. Not to mention the power of this thing! He couldn't see or feel any safeguards or defense mechanism built in the spell, which to him meant this barrier was more or less designed to keep things out, rather than in. The barrier could have safeguards he might not be able to see, and it might still contain some unspeakable evil, but he wouldn't know until he was finished, right?

    He could see that this barrier was finely crafted, with several different pieces of the barrier's interwoven seamlessly, with it being reinforced as well. Whoever made this wanted to keep people OUT. Given what he saw, he can't brute force the barrier down, since it was made of several interdependent yet separate fields twisted together, so he would have to do it the long way.
He began to find the weakest link to the barrier, and once he found it, he began to unravel it. Painstakely slow, he tore that piece apart, taking care to find hidden bobby traps and to do the job right. Once that was done, he dispelled that part, and began working on the next one. This took a large chuck of time, and a large chuck of magic, but he got it done in the end

        Quite fortunate was the fact that he found no traps hidden in the barrier, and that he was able get the parts of it down with out them reforming, which reinforced his idea that this field was one of privacy, rather than containment. Finally, he dispelled the last piece of the field, with only the framework of it remaining. Gathering up his power for the last time, he focused it and pierced it, shattering and dispelling the last of it.

He felt, rather than saw, the magic vacuum around the place being filled with magic, once the field was down. What he didn't feel was any malicious magics in the air, or any powerful being inside of the place. They could be conceling themselves, but it was unlikely, with the magical field that was in place doing the job for any possible magical being.

     With the task at hand done, he broke the circle around and walk up to the doors. Placing a hand on them, he felt for any traps that might be on the door. Finding none, he open the doors.

What greeted him was corridor, pitch black and musty. He felt an odd bit of disappointment strangely enough. Usually with all his efforts thus far, something exciting or dangerous pops up to scare or torment him. Nothing of the sort has happened since he got here, which put him on edge. With his boon of good luck, he has been able things done much quicker before, but it made him paranoid now. Why?

Well, if you had his kind of luck, wouldn't you be scared of what misfortune would come after all of this?

Shaking of his superstitions, he steeled his nerves and summoned his scythe, and walk right into the ruins.
 The dragon who was tailing the wind mage explorer was watching the strange creature move about the place. The dragon had seen this clearing and the blocky rocks here before, but never had the reason or inclination before to explore the place, with it being more interested in preforming tricks in the air and hunting critters.. Now that the funny little creature was around, it found this place was actually a nice little place. It had a watering hole, nice even ground to nap on, and something different to look at.

       That wasn't the main thing on its mind. The creature was, and it was pacing around, searching the place it seems. But what was the creature searching for? Nothing was here besides that rocky place in the middle of it. Tilting its head, it decided that the creature was looking at the rock, but what for. It was just a boring rock, nothing special about it! Quietly, it hovered down not to startle the fixation of its attention, and got a closer look at the rock. It saw colorful pictures, like those on the big rocky far way from here! Surprised, it found that it was covered with them, showing all kind of things that the dragon didn't understand. Still, it found to be quite nice, and gazed at it joyfully.

Abrutly, the creature stop what it was doing and headed to the other side of the colorfull rock. The dragon quick and silently followed the creature around, and saw it in front of a groove in the rock. The creature was figiting about, moving those twig arms inside it, when it pulled some thing out. Even with its keen sight the dragon didn't get a good view of the items, but it saw the creature croach down and draw a strange looking circle in the ground.
   
 It looked different from what the dragons drew around their nests to warn other dragons to not bother them, with squiggles around it. A second later it felt that pop that draw it to the creature in the first place, and suddenly a weird thing appeared around the rock. It look colorful and pretty~! "Kyuuuu!", the dragon went, forgetting for a moment about its silence in excitement of the strange new thing in front of her. Again, Ventus did not notice, for the same reason as last time. Lucky for the dragon, eh?

     Getting closer to the color light thingy, it reached out and touch it. Immediantly, it felt its body becoming heavier, and the dragon start to stall in the air. Scared it pulled it limb away flew far away form the now spooky thingy. It almost made it fall! How dare it! Angry at the colorful thing for almost making it crash, it inhaled and spat out fire at the offending thing. When the flames touched the field, they winked out instantly. The dragon, not expecting the field to stop its flames, look at the barrier with a cross, curious look. Nothing ever stop it flames before, never! Spooky thing is weird and dangerous! It kept well away from the field now, wary of it trying to attack her and rob it of its flight again.

        Sometime later, after it was finished glaring at the field with thinly veiled contempt, it saw a part of it disappear in a burst of pretty sparkles!  It flew up higher and away from the pretty sparklies, cautious of any that was part of the spooky thing. Slowly, the other pieces of the barrier started to disappear over the course of a few hours, until there was nothing left of it at all. Why did the thing disappear, why did it go away? The dragon was confused for a moment as of why the colorfull thingy appear, then disappear. Then it remember the strange creature, and what it was doing around the rock. Did it make the weird spooky thing appear? If it did, the dragon didn't like its idea of playing around. It could have hurt it!

If it did make the thingy appear, then why did it make it disappear? Maybe it was bored of it, or something? The creature was strange to the dragon before, but now it was even more mysterious and strange! How exciting( If a little threating)! As it watch, it saw the creature stand up and rub out the circle around it, and approach the crack in the rock. It felt something fill the place the creature was in, but it couldn't fathom what it was. Instead, it focused on what the creature was doing. It extend its limb to the crevice and probed in, as if it was looking for something. After awhile, it stopped, and suddenly pushed the crack until he broke through it! This startled the dragon, with its eyes widening a bit.

This creature could break through rock with those tiny little limbs? It must be really, really strong! What an amazing creature! If it has that strength, and those weird things it does sometimes, it might be as strong as me! The dragon was practically bounce around in the air, bobbing and weaving in it, unable to contain its energy and excitement. It saw the creature then disappear inside the rock. What, were did it go? It flew down, and land on the ground, and rushed over to were the crack in the wall was, forgetting about the spooky thing that was there.

What was a crack in the wall was now a hole. It seemed the crack concealed a cave behind. While unusual, it had seen this kind of thing by its other brethren when they were making new home, so it was to excited by this. It could see long tunnel that stretched out so far it couldn't see the end of it. While it wanted to go in and explore, the hole was to small for it to go through without causing a racket, and it didn't want to alert the creature to itself just yet. The dragon wasn't quite done observing the new creature, and it didn't want it to act any differently if it knew it was there.

Think the creature would be away for awhile inside, it walk away from the building and flew up. It was hungry after all this excitement and following the creature around, and it wanted to fill its belly with the flesh and blood of critters. With that, the creature took off away from the place for a bit to eat, content that it could find the creature if it decided to wander off after it was done with it whatever it was doing inside that cave.

"It's pretty dark in here, so I'll light me a torch," said Ventus, as he was peering into the murky dark depths of the hallway he was traversing. He didn't have to traverse the ruins very much to know that the place was not very friendly to those with problems with night vision. While he was just fine without a light source, having one would help immensely in finding treasure, or any possible traps.
 
Reaching into his pack while walking, he pulled out and stick with a oily rag tied a the end of it. Not missing a beat, he muttered "Sparkis", and the torch caught fire, casting a soft low light that illuminated the hallway ahead. He saw that unlike the outside, the walls were unadorned and were of a faded color, which suggested that the murals outside were for decoration.
 
As he continued down the hall, he couldn't help but wonder if this place truly had archane lore, and magical items he sought after. The place was pretty well defended against magical intrusion, but getting in was cakewalk, with little difficulty in surmounting its defenses. This was for the most part due to the total lack of traps or trick set up in the field in the first place, which made him uneasy.
 
Usually, when a field like that is up, its designed to stay up, with a castor throwing everything they have in the spell to keep it like that, deadly traps and all. This is to keep people like him from getting into places willy nilly without consequence, and act as deterrence for anyone not skilled enough to take down the field without it blowing up on them.
 
This place field offered no challenge, though, so it made him wonder WHY someone would go through the trouble of placing the field up in the first place. Perhaps the person who made this place was more than capable of keeping the field up as long as they were there? Well, that be a person to avoid! Anyone with enough power to be confident enough to maintain their field indefinitely probally has enough power to swat any fly that comes buzzing around its place. Frankly, he doesn't want to be that fly...
 
He stopped when he come across a doorway in the hall. It was made of stone, like the rest of the cold place, and it was inscribed with patterns and ruins. 'Jackpot!' he thought, as he moved closer with his torch to get a better look at it. It had a irregular gridlock pattern, with ruins interspaced in the larger pockets of rock face on the door. It thrummed with a low trickle of power, the runes glowing slightly in his presence.
 
Extending his hand to not-quite touching the door, he scaned it with his magic, and found it to be a sort of locking mechanism. Quite a complicated one, by the looks of it too, but the magic powering it was nowhere near its full capacity. The question now is how is he going to get the stupid door open? He could spend a few hours of boring tedium in this frigid, black hallway, activitly keeping his torch alight with his limited reserves, deciphering the runes and lattice in front of him and unlock that way. Or he could just blast the door open, since the magic keeping in locked is woefully inadequate.
 
I think we both know what he choose.
 
Stepping away from the door, hand still extended, he shouted "Gale Impact!", releasing a huge blast of compressed air at the door. When the air hit the door, it flew inwards, impacting inside the room with a *crunch*. "Woops, put a little to much in that one," Ventus said, sweatdropping at the sight of the door embedded in the wall in the room opposite of where he is. Wiping his face, he shrugged, not worried too much, and marched right in.
 
The room looked to be a small storage space, with shelves lining the walls of the room, and pots laying on the ground. The selves were barren for the most part, with small capped jars on them and a large clay pots on them. He started with picking up and shaking the bottle, and heard some liquid slosh in some of them, and jiggling in others. He pocketed these in his pack for investigation later, and searched the pots. Most were empty, but a few of them contained what looked like magical regeants. Hemlock, tristle, red orce, the works.
 
    This must of been where whoever stored there magical supplies at. Score! He'd been meaning to start a collection of his own regeants for some time know, since he couldn't cart any with him when he came. The reason for this is due to customs in airports on some of the... more 'estoic' ingredients he had, plus the fact that it would have been difficult in keeping them preserved over the long trip. This would be a great start for him in his rebuilding of his supply.
 
After he was done raiding the storage room, he left and continued his search of the place. The place had servel branching hallways throughout, but getting lost wasn't an issue with him, what with his wind magic keeping him informed where his is in the ruins at all times. Oh how he loved magic! He came across several other doors like the first one, and proceded to blast them down as well, looking for goodies. Unfortunely for him, his first time must of been his only charm, as the rest of the rooms were barren of anyting important. Some had funinture, others were bedrooms, but he didn't find anything!
 
It seems that as luck and fortune has smiled at him so far, they decided to take a break and leave him at the mercy of his own luck. Which is, needless to say, shoddy. He was getting frustrated at his failure of finding anything of use, which stressed him out even more than normal. He came for artifacts of power, not a whole lot of nothing! If he wanted that, he could have lived with his parents and got the same thing, without all the cost of time and money!
 
As he continued to search, he slowly got himself under control, and refocused on the task at hand. As he had said before, getting himself in a fervor doesn't help things at all. He continued deeper into the ruins, ever inquisitive and excited. As he went, he saw that his path was declining down, signaling that he was going underground. Interesting idea, underground tunnels in a floating island. He bet that one person dug to deep and fell a loooooooong ways down. HeHe!
 
After awhile, he found an end to his path. Stopping, he peered up at a set of giant stone doors, intricately carved with depictions of what looks like a witch. Looks like he found he treasure trove in the deepest part of the ruins. Again. Well, if that how they want to build their place, all to them. It makes it easier to find their valuables later, when they vacate the premences.
 
He started to walk toward the door again, when he felt the powerfull magic imminating from the doors. He was awash in it suddenly, bathing in its full power as he stood there, overwhelmed. Snapping out of it, he gritted his teeth and continue forward, the power getting stronger as he got closer. When he reached the door, he dropped down and hastily got a piece of chalk out and drew a circle around himself. He pumped magic into in, sealing him of from the torrential outflow of magic outside.
 
Disoriented, he looked owlishly at the door in front of him. 'What ever is behind theses doors is seriously strong. Even standing in it for more than a few minute was like being lost in a sea of magic! And I have to brave it if I want whatever lies past these doors. Great, not like I needed anymore complications to my exploration. Eh, I'll work something out," he thought, going over what just happen to him, and trying to focus himself after that experience.
 
A few minutes passed before he righted himself fully, and began his examinations of the doors in front of him. Unlike anything else in the ruins, these had powerfull wards and shields over them, design to keep anyone out if they didn't belong. A part of this defense was the aforementioned magical sea barrier in front designed to repel those unwanted.
 
This could be difficult. And thrilling.
 
Cracking his neck, he began to probe the magical barrier surround the doors. With so much magic around, it almost impossible to establish a connection, but he manages it and conducts his investigations. Mutiple traps, some deadly, others nonlethal but still problematic, and a slew of protection spells layered on the door itself. This thing is a fortress in of itself. Never let it be said that he didn't like a challenge, however. No barrier yet has tested it might against his and won! Granted, several barriers almost crippled or killed him several times in the past, but he's gotten better now!
 
Once he found all the secrets he could find after a span of 30 minutes, he began the tiring work of breaking down the barrier without  setting up the proper circle. He could just restart and redraw it again, but with the amount of magic out their and his fear that the barrier might change up is defenses, forcing him to do a once over again, he decided that more work was worth the extra hurtles. That, and he just gotten into his groove!
 
The barriers resisted him every step of the way. They twisted and bent in way that forced him to change tactics, attempted to trigger spells he already disarmed, and repairing itself after each attempt to tear it apart. He would not stop, no. He had come to far to let some semi-sentient barrier from stonewalling him!
 
Bit by bit, he gained ground. He stoped its regeneration, maneuvered around its treacherous twist and turns, and he removed every single spellwork connected to the damn barrier. At long last, he began to unwound it, stripping off pieces of the barrier and destroying them. The barrier started to dim, and the magical sea outside began to fade away as he continued his efforts. The barrier at this point was just making it as hard as possible for him to get through it. Determined and Spiteful little barrier, eh?
 
When it was just the framework of the spell left, Urbel gather his magic and blasted it with a burst, and everything fell apart. The magic sea was gone, but the magic left behind will continued to infest the area for hundread of years, given the amount of it there and however long the witch set up this barrier.
 
'Done,' he thought, letting his mind wander for a bit while he relaxed, the strain of taking down the Uber barrier more than enough to warrant it. He broke the circle around his feet, and he felt the rush of magical power bearing down on him again, but its was no where near as intense as before. Putting his hands on the doors, he pushed them open, and walked in. With the level of defenses surrounding this door, he bet this place had the magical jaggle he was looking for.
 
What he found instead completely flatfooted him, shocking him as to what he saw. It was great magical treasure, no.
 
It was a burial chamber.
 
He saw alcoves that held urns, probally filled with ashes, and beneath them where placques with ruins on them. 'Probally their name,' he though, as he explored further in. He had a sense he was intruding on the places grounds, so he wanted to conduct his search as quick as possible. As he went deeper he saw mummified corpses in small alcoves set in the stone work around him, all of them carefully preserved and untouched. The cloths on them where in good condition as the day they were put on them, with the ramments ranging from plain to decadent. He hurried along, not liking the feeling he was getting of the corspes at all. It seemed like they were... watching him
 
Curiously.
 
The chamber was fairly large, with a few branching path leading to deeper part holding even more corpses and remains. It had a mute, reserved feel to it. Lonely and tired, as if it been forgotten for ages. Probally has been, but that's besides the point. As he explored, he got the expression that the place wasn't hostile to his intrusions. Rather, it was being... kind to him, letting him roam around, getting the feel of the place, to see what the people entombed here were like. Expectant, even. Its like the place wanted him to be around, wanting him to discover what lie here.
 
Perhaps the place wanted living company? Was it lonely?
 
He shuddered, hasting his search of the place. He'd been to a few Genius Loci, and all his encounters with them have been off putting. To be in a place that can think, feel, and understand you sets off all of his nerves and makes him paranoid that the place might try and keep him here. Wouldn't that be like him, being trapped by a lonely cypt. It be real pleasant.
 
Eventually, he had explore all but one area, which was the back of the main crypt hallway. Steeling his fraying nerves, he marched back there, and saw something that made him hold his breath. On an alter was a daishe fh a bowl filled with indigo flames, with two statues beside it. The one on the left was a female looking, carrying a staff in hand, and had a neutral expression on her, as if waiting to see what happens. The one on the right was male, and had staff in both hand, horizontally angled, with an fierce look on his face, as if he's ready to take on all that oppose him. Over shadowing them was huge mural, one depicting a tragic scene.
 
In it was a kingdom falling apart, with people dying and panicking, with colorful spoches of magic decending down of the poor hapless individuals, killing some, and twisting others into horrible beasts.  In the center of it was a massive figure, wearing a grin that that spoke of pain and madness, as he destroy the kingdom he was around.
 
He saw what looked  like a women rise against the mayhem, beating back the evil and twisted madness that surrounded the island. He saw the woman seal away the mad wizard depth under the island, with the mad wizard screaming in rage, tears going down his face as he was buried. He saw the women and a small child surround by the corpses of the kingdom that once was.
 
When he saw this, the realization struck him. "This is a memorial to those lost in that battle. The entire ruins are a complex dedicated to those that died in that battle," he whispered, awed and horrified at the same time. That was why those barriers were up! They were to keep the place protected from the elements of time and magic, to keep in intact for all time, as a testament to the kingdom lost in madness so long ago.
 
And he broke strait into this place. The ramifications alone of the act....
 
The flame were flicking slightly as he comprehended his fate. He'd been in a few spiritual places. It comes with the territory with being a wizard and explorer. All of the were filled with spirits that could do numerous things to intruders of their sactuarary. Upleasent things. You haven't been thankfull for you life enough when you escaped from vengeful spirits  that  wanted to destroy you soul.
 
This place felt just like those others! How did he NOT notice?! HE didn't want to be cursed for this!
Especially not by the spirits of witches! Who knows what they could do to his life. Forbid it, what could they do with his death.
 
He was breathing hard, about ready to bolt from the place, when he felt something. It was... the flames.
He was drawn to the flames, and as he got closer, the feeling he felt got clearer, until he was hovering over the flames. Then he got it. The place, its spirits, didn't mean him harm. They were tired, yes, and some were grumpy about their resting place being disturbed, but they held no malice for him. They were at most curious about the human traveler, and what brought him to this island, and this sactuarary. He felt that some were even happy that they had company, living company , around!
 
What he felt most of all was their sorrow. The sadness over the loss of their life. The sadness of life wasted away by tragedy. Sadness over  the scattered state of their people, over their kingdom, lost in the destructions of ages past. He thought he even felt their tears of pain they felt as they died to the monstrous magics inflicted on them.
 
Most of all, he felt their sorrow over the people that were left behind, orphaned by the chaos of the event.
 
He knew then, standing over the indigo flames, that this place was safe. His face was red with crying, and his body was shaking, but he was alright. He peered deep within the flames, feeling tired and old. The flames seemed to convey to him the spirits feelings and thoughts, gathering them up and acting as a medium for them. The level power and archane might need for such a thing! It made the barriers he faced look like crayon drawings in comparison.
 
'This place, this island, holds a great deal of mysteries. After finding this, I am sure that their are countless magical items, articifacts, constructs, and places of power and spirituality(such as this one) here, waiting to be uncovered. I'll find them, and I'll use the resources to better myself, and all that may follow me. A leader must be strong, after all, in order to face the challenges and burdens of power, to balance out the needs and will of the people with the hard decisions necessitated by the harshness of reality. He must know what needs to be done, and she must stand strong and be in control, lest he falls and takes everyone with him. Like the mad witch did with his people,' he pondered, taking in once more the murals on the wall that depicted the tragedy. He felt bitterness rise up in him, as he was reminded of the battle he fought in, the wars he was a part of, and all the lives lost because of him
 
  ' Man, life sucks, doesn't it? We still keep on going, though, because that beat giving up and dying. People can still smile and hope for the best, even after all the horrors they face. They can be strong when all is taken from them, just to help other worse than they are. As bad as we are, I think that humanity is alright. After all, not everyone is a bad apple or a rotten pear, like that block up their,' he contemplated, having a rare moment of philosophy as he stared at the mad wizard.
 
He closed his eyes, and chuckled at the state he was in. He shouldn't have broken down like that! What was he, some amateur scout, fearful of the scary wild? No, he is, and always was, a leader! He won't let this take him down, he'll use it to make him stronger! He felt at peace then, and he felt the spirits quite down too, settling down now that he was not in such a fevor anymore.
 
Still chuckling, he reached into his pack and got out some incense. He used this to calm down after a long and frustrating day at times, or in ritual preparations that called for it. He like multitasking regants, it make them more viable for use. He paused, and also got out one of his ration bars. "Sparkis," he muttered, and the incense light up, giving of its faints aroma. "Lavendar, hmm, quite nice choice there," he said, as he place them on the dais, careful to avoid getting burnt by the flame already there. He arrange them to surround it, and he began to unwarp his bar.
 
He held it over the flames, and started to chant, "Oh spirits that dwell here, forgive my trespasses! I came here in ingnorance of the meaning of this place, and seek to give offering to you in respect and payment for my gross conduct. I will restore the barriers around this place, no matter the time needed, and will never forget what I have witnessed here today. I shall carry the memory of this place with me for all times, and shall grieve for the plight that befell you people. I do this not out of forgiveness or want of mercy, but because I understand how you fell. Not exactly, never, but I do know hoe you feel, for I have been in similar events, fighting for my ilfe to try to survive. Please, accept my apology. If you feel that I must pay for my transgressions, the n I shall suffer them gladly. Please, I beg for forgiveness...' He finished his speech, and dropped his offering into the flames.
 
It isn't much, but it the act  that counts. To be willing to give your food away to feed the dead is a great deed indeed. With summoning or appeasing other spirits you might need to be more specific, but this will do.
 
He watched the flames gobble up his bar, and he felt an immediant change in the atmosphere around him. He felt... ok. He felt like he was forgiven, and that the spirits were grateful for his offering and promise. Huh, they must really be lonely to accept such a pitifull offering such as his! He let out a laugh as he turn and began his way out of the sactuarary, feeling good about the trip despite hardly getting anything out of it.
 
Maybe that was why he was laugh so much in the first place.
After a few day spent on recreating the barriers, which was a bloody lot of work mind you, he looked back at the ruin that held the dead as he packed up camp, ready to move onward. He hadn't expected to run in to something like that here, but this was new territory, so anything was expected. It was the crack of dawn when he finished, and he saw the sun rise as he put on his pack again. He felt the renewing rays hit him, cleansing him of the residual magic on from working with the barriers. The barriers around the place held firm against the sunlight, making him proud that he did the job right.
 
To those that didn't know, sunrises are equivilents of a magic reset button. Well sort of. It gets rid of the lingering magic that accumulated during the course of the day with a wave of positive energy, reddying the world for another supernatural day. The sunlight hardly affect the magic on the island, which at this point was a given, other wise the island might be liable to fall out of the sky. That wouldn't be very good for his health at all, would it?
 
Taking one last look at the old place, he set out, hoping to discover places that held more magical artifacts than dead bodies. Even if they were nice dead bodies.